The defense is still leading the way for the Cardinals, but we finally got to see the old Larry Fitzgerald in Week 3. After catching only five of his first 11 targets, he caught nine of nine against the Eagles. That’s a good sign, especially with Kevin Kolb at quarterback, who hadn’t been as productive for Fitzgerald as John Skelton has been in the past.

The running back situation has been about as bad as possible through the first two weeks, but we saw a glimmer of hope in Week 3 as Ryan Williams took over for the ailing Beanie Wells and went for 95 total yards. Williams looked much better than he has this preseason and early season and hopefully he is getting back to his pre-injury speed.

Andre Roberts moved back up to six targets after just one last week. If he can stay consistently at six or above, he’ll be worth looking at in deeper leagues.

The Falcons were on cruise control against the Chargers and spread the ball around well. Old man Gonzalez had a team high 12 targets, which put him into the team lead for the season. He’s not going to Gronk over a defense, but he’s so sure handed and slick at finding the open spaces, that in this more up-tempo offense, he’ll continue to be a fantasy asset.

The Roddy White vs. Julio Jones contest for fantasy supremacy is close right now. Jones leads based on his three touchdowns to White’s one, but White is very close in PPR scoring. I believe Jones will continue to see similar targets, but his big play ability will keep him ahead of White throughout the season. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the season goes on.

Michael Turner has officially been passed by Jacquizz Rodgers in time on the field. For this week at least. And he had his most productive fantasy game of the season. But there’s no doubting that Rodgers fits this offense better. The numbers for Week 3 break down like so: Turner, 32 total snaps, 14 run plays, 12 pass, 6 pass blocking – Rodgers, 34 total snaps, 10 run plays, 21 pass, 3 pass blocking. Turner is still going to get goal line carries, but Rodgers will be in the red zone just as much or more, since the Falcons have run the ball 17 times to 21 times passing the ball once they hit the opponent’s 20 yard line.

There wasn’t much good to come out of the Thursday night game for the Panthers, but one good thing was the usage of Greg Olsen. He only caught half of his targets, but Cam Newton wasn’t exactly having his best day as a pro. There’s a very good chance that Olsen continues to lead this team in targets all season.

Brandon Marshall got back up to double digit targets, which is promising considering the Bears had a poor offensive showing against the Rams. The best news really is for Alshon Jeffery owners. The percentage of snaps he’s played has gone from 55% to 63% to 74% in Week 3. And add that to Week 3 being his biggest target game with seven, and we have a nice trend.

With Matt Forte out, Michael Bush saw the bulk of the carries, but wasn’t a true work horse with Kahlil Bell getting 10 rushing attempts to Bush’s 18. If Forte can’t go again, you might want to drop Bush slightly in your rankings with that kind of split.

The Cowboys offense isn’t nearly as explosive as I assumed it would be. Their individual personnel stack up against any of the top offenses in the league, but they just aren’t moving the ball. Thankfully it’s still early, and there’s only room to go up.

The fact that Dez Bryant doesn't have one red zone target is disturbing. He is easily the best player on the Cowboys to make a contested reception. I wonder if Romo is getting a little gun shy. But to be fair, the Cowboys haven’t been in the red zone all that often. They’ve only run 14 plays inside the red zone, which is the fourth least in the league.

Miles Austin is the clear fantasy winner so far in the passing game, but the lack of productive drives leaves few fantasy points to go around. Until that offense gets going, we’ll have trouble getting the 4-5 studs on that offense to all contribute to your team.

Matthew Stafford is actually completing 69% of his passes this season, but has only three touchdowns to four interceptions. Add in that two of those interceptions came in the red zone, and we have a problem.

We did see Titus Young have his most targets on the season, but that can also be said about every other receiver as well. He did get into the end zone, which was good to see. As well as his 93% snap rate, which was a huge jump from 58% and 63% in the first two games, but that is most likely due to Tony Scheffler missing the game. We’ll probably see those numbers head back down into the 60’s.

Nate Burleson’s 10 receptions were the most he’s had in a game since he had 11 in November of 2004. So that tells me he is really old. And that he’s still one of Stafford’s go to targets underneath. His yards per reception are a paltry 8.8, which makes his upside pretty much on the downside.

Mikel Leshoure was the big news for the Lions. He saw 30 touches to Joique Bell’s 9 and was on the field over 60% of the time, and those numbers are a bit skewed, because he lost some carries due to fatigue in overtime.

And the bad news for Kevin Smith owners is that it looks like he has lost his job to Bell. He was only on the field for five snaps and touched the ball zero times. That was with a total of 96 snaps on the day! He gone.

Welcome to the NFC Target Watch for Week 3, but actually Week 4, because we like to keep our eyes on the prize here at Rotoworld. And I guess that prize is Week 4? Dunno, but here we are.

The defense is still leading the way for the Cardinals, but we finally got to see the old Larry Fitzgerald in Week 3. After catching only five of his first 11 targets, he caught nine of nine against the Eagles. That’s a good sign, especially with Kevin Kolb at quarterback, who hadn’t been as productive for Fitzgerald as John Skelton has been in the past.

The running back situation has been about as bad as possible through the first two weeks, but we saw a glimmer of hope in Week 3 as Ryan Williams took over for the ailing Beanie Wells and went for 95 total yards. Williams looked much better than he has this preseason and early season and hopefully he is getting back to his pre-injury speed.

Andre Roberts moved back up to six targets after just one last week. If he can stay consistently at six or above, he’ll be worth looking at in deeper leagues.

The Falcons were on cruise control against the Chargers and spread the ball around well. Old man Gonzalez had a team high 12 targets, which put him into the team lead for the season. He’s not going to Gronk over a defense, but he’s so sure handed and slick at finding the open spaces, that in this more up-tempo offense, he’ll continue to be a fantasy asset.

The Roddy White vs. Julio Jones contest for fantasy supremacy is close right now. Jones leads based on his three touchdowns to White’s one, but White is very close in PPR scoring. I believe Jones will continue to see similar targets, but his big play ability will keep him ahead of White throughout the season. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the season goes on.

Michael Turner has officially been passed by Jacquizz Rodgers in time on the field. For this week at least. And he had his most productive fantasy game of the season. But there’s no doubting that Rodgers fits this offense better. The numbers for Week 3 break down like so: Turner, 32 total snaps, 14 run plays, 12 pass, 6 pass blocking – Rodgers, 34 total snaps, 10 run plays, 21 pass, 3 pass blocking. Turner is still going to get goal line carries, but Rodgers will be in the red zone just as much or more, since the Falcons have run the ball 17 times to 21 times passing the ball once they hit the opponent’s 20 yard line.

There wasn’t much good to come out of the Thursday night game for the Panthers, but one good thing was the usage of Greg Olsen. He only caught half of his targets, but Cam Newton wasn’t exactly having his best day as a pro. There’s a very good chance that Olsen continues to lead this team in targets all season.

Brandon Marshall got back up to double digit targets, which is promising considering the Bears had a poor offensive showing against the Rams. The best news really is for Alshon Jeffery owners. The percentage of snaps he’s played has gone from 55% to 63% to 74% in Week 3. And add that to Week 3 being his biggest target game with seven, and we have a nice trend.

With Matt Forte out, Michael Bush saw the bulk of the carries, but wasn’t a true work horse with Kahlil Bell getting 10 rushing attempts to Bush’s 18. If Forte can’t go again, you might want to drop Bush slightly in your rankings with that kind of split.

The Cowboys offense isn’t nearly as explosive as I assumed it would be. Their individual personnel stack up against any of the top offenses in the league, but they just aren’t moving the ball. Thankfully it’s still early, and there’s only room to go up.

The fact that Dez Bryant doesn't have one red zone target is disturbing. He is easily the best player on the Cowboys to make a contested reception. I wonder if Romo is getting a little gun shy. But to be fair, the Cowboys haven’t been in the red zone all that often. They’ve only run 14 plays inside the red zone, which is the fourth least in the league.

Miles Austin is the clear fantasy winner so far in the passing game, but the lack of productive drives leaves few fantasy points to go around. Until that offense gets going, we’ll have trouble getting the 4-5 studs on that offense to all contribute to your team.

Matthew Stafford is actually completing 69% of his passes this season, but has only three touchdowns to four interceptions. Add in that two of those interceptions came in the red zone, and we have a problem.

We did see Titus Young have his most targets on the season, but that can also be said about every other receiver as well. He did get into the end zone, which was good to see. As well as his 93% snap rate, which was a huge jump from 58% and 63% in the first two games, but that is most likely due to Tony Scheffler missing the game. We’ll probably see those numbers head back down into the 60’s.

Nate Burleson’s 10 receptions were the most he’s had in a game since he had 11 in November of 2004. So that tells me he is really old. And that he’s still one of Stafford’s go to targets underneath. His yards per reception are a paltry 8.8, which makes his upside pretty much on the downside.

Mikel Leshoure was the big news for the Lions. He saw 30 touches to Joique Bell’s 9 and was on the field over 60% of the time, and those numbers are a bit skewed, because he lost some carries due to fatigue in overtime.

And the bad news for Kevin Smith owners is that it looks like he has lost his job to Bell. He was only on the field for five snaps and touched the ball zero times. That was with a total of 96 snaps on the day! He gone.

I’ll forgo “The Call” talk because it makes me sleepy and angry, or as I now like to call it, slangry. So let’s talk about how horrible Aaron Rodgers is. Or should we talk about how good the 49ers, Bears and Seahawk’s defenses are? Either way, the Packers, who were easily the most efficient offense in the league last season, are now one of the least efficient. But I am going to blame that on an easy schedule last season and an extremely difficult schedule to start this season. So in reality, it’s probably not as big a drop off as it seems.

The targets are all over the place, but Greg Jennings is the clear target hog when he’s on the field. Once their completion gets a little easier, or a lot easier in the case of the Saints this week, we may see where they want to throw the ball, versus where the defense wants them to throw the ball.

Oh how I love to see those double digit targets for my man Percy Harvin. He leads the league in receptions and is second in catch percentage (15+ targets) with 27 of 32 for 84%. Amazingly Oakland tight end Brandon Myers has a 100% catch percentage on 15 targets!

Besides Harvin, Kyle Rudolph is getting it done. And by it, I mean scoring touchdowns. Right now, with an average of 6 targets, it looks like he’ll have to score touchdowns to stay near the top of the fantasy tight end list, but as it is, he’s at the very least, a starter.

Christian Ponder continues to impress. He hasn’t thrown an interception, has a 67% completion rate in the red zone and a 100+ quarterback rating. He’s targeting his best receivers and gets Jerome Simpson back this week. All systems are go.

The first is just odd. Sproles hadn’t had one rushing attempt all season and then gets seven to go along with no receptions, while Pierre Thomas catches four passes on six targets. I think we’ll see that totter back over to Sproles' side next week, but it’s worth watching.

Colston has a foot issue, but I’m seeing no talk that it kept him out of the game other than the fact that he was actually out of the game. I’d be wary until we see him play a full game again.

Mark Ingram was only on the field for thirteen snaps and five rushing attempts. These aren’t the numbers you are looking for. These aren’t the numbers we’re looking for. You can go about your business.

There’s no doubt that Ramses Barden just slipped right into Hakeem Nicks role. As long as Nicks is back, you see Barden’s targets go back down to their unrosterable heights.

Martellus Bennett is really stepping up this season and Eli Manning’s love for him in the red zone is the reason why. There’s no reason to not ride him to fantasy greatness!

Andre Brown filled in well for Ahmad Bradshaw and was the clear cut, every-down back. What happens when Bradshaw returns is going to be interesting. Now that Brown has proven he can handle all aspects of the offense, it will be hard to relegate him to handcuff. I have a feeling we may see both quite a bit, at least for Bradshaw’s first game back.

DeSean Jackson seems to be the stalwart of the bunch this season. Of course if Jeremy Maclin could stay healthy, this whole offense would probably have a better chance. Or if Andy Reid would give LeSean McCoy more than 16 touches. Or if Michael Vick wouldn’t turn the ball over three times a game. Well, you get the picture.

All in all, I am taking a wait and see attitude on this Eagles team. There is plenty of talent there and they could turn around their fantasy prospects very quickly.

Alex Smith has been quite efficient this season in the red zone. He’s only passed the ball six times, but completed five of those for three touchdowns. That’s darn good, but unless you are Vernon Davis, you aren’t putting up much in the way of fantasy points. At some point, like the end of last season, the 49ers will need to start passing more. But until then, I’d steer clear of all the wide receivers in 12 team leagues.

Kendall Hunter is one of my favorite backup running backs in the league, but he isn’t making up any ground on Frank Gore as of yet. And he actually lost a little ground last week, only seeing 19% of the snaps.

That Golden Tate sure had a good game. Two touchdowns, wowza! Wait, what’s that? No, I missed the game. Did something happen with Tate? Oh, jeez. Well, if we disregard some tom-foolery, Tate’s game looks pretty average. He’d have had two receptions on seven targets, with the one touchdown.

The Bears defense shut down the Rams big time. They had 12 first downs and 160 total yards. But even in that rotten spectacle, Danny Amendola still managed to get nine targets and five receptions. It was by no means a good fantasy day for him, but it could have been much worse. In PPR leagues, he should continue to have value, even in down games like this.

The Rams running game was non-existent, but Steven Jackson made it through the whole game with Daryl Richardson getting about a fourth of the work. As long as Jackson is healthy it looks like Richardson will remain just a handcuff.

With a total of 110 passing yards against the Cowboys, there isn’t much good to glean from the Bucs passing game. Amazingly Vincent Jackson only brought in one reception on his seven targets, but as fantasy players, we can be happy that even in a poor matchup, Jackson still at least got a chance to catch the ball. That bodes well going forward and should keep him from having too many awful games like this one.

Doug Martin continues to dominate the running back work. LeGarrette Blount returned from a hiatus to see a slight uptick in carries, but nothing for Martin owners to worry about. And after whiffing on receptions in Week 2 on three targets, Martin caught two for 21 yards last week. In that offense it will be imperative that he starts to get a few more targets per week, which I believe he will.

The Redskins couldn’t get much going through the air, but we did see glimpses of a RGIII to Fred Davis connection. It would be nice if they could get Pierre Garcon back, so we could see how this offense really works, but right now, we can take some solace in this game for Davis.

The Redskins just signed Ryan Grant, but this situation seems pretty cut and dry and sans Shanahagins. Both Roy Helu and Evan Royster are suffering from injuries and Grant was needed in case both can’t go in Week 4. This actually leaves Alfred Morris safer than he was just last week.